


Best Friends

by hello33willoTheWisp845



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-05-31 20:29:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15127247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hello33willoTheWisp845/pseuds/hello33willoTheWisp845
Summary: Seven makes friends with a holodeck figure and learns a lot of new things.





	1. The holodeck program

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my 2te story in the Star Trek universe. I'm a Star Trek fan, I know the series and some of the movies. I love the stories about Captain and Seven here and I love to read everything. Preferably the romantic stories. The Technogebrabbel I always overread this. Therefore I ask you for leniency if my techno babble is not correct or even faulty. All I care about is the story between the Captain and Seven, everything else is incidental and exposed to my artistic freedom, so please do not take everything too seriously. Many Thanks.
> 
> I would like to thank BaeLanna very much. They helped to translate my German text into English. Many Thanks.

Seven was really angry. As if it wasn't bad enough that she was constantly being looked at by crewmembers because she was Borg. No, now she was also actually being punished for simply being Borg and always would be.

When she was Borg, she got a job, when it was done, she was assigned to a new task, then another, and so on. Until she had to regenerate.

Now that she was living on Voyager, she did not do otherwise. She worked on the alpha shift and then on the beta shift and when she did not have to regenerate, she even worked the gamma shift. She did not need any leisure, rest or sleep. She was Borg and she was able to get along as Borg for at least 200 hours without regeneration.

But the doctor saw it differently. He scolded her, telling her that she had to regenerate at least every 72 hours because she was no longer completely Borg, as her human physiology was asserting itself more and more.

When Seven did not want to hear, the doctor went to the captain and informed her that he insisted that Seven be given less work, that she should only be allowed one or two service shifts. But not all three and she should certainly not be working for days at a time.

The captain listened to his complaint with concern and reassured the doctor, assuring him that she would talk to Seven and take necessary action.

And that was it then, Seven had been ordered by the captain she would only be allowed to work on the alpha shift, and through to the beta at most. Unless there was an emergency and it was required for all crew members to work more to ensure the survival of Voyager and her crew.

Furthermore, the captain ordered that Seven should use the holodeck for at least 2 hours a week for fun, rest, or relaxation. During this time, she was forbidden to work on or do any work.

Seven would have understood the whole thing somehow if the captain had spent this time together with her, but no, Seven had to spend two hours of her free time alone on the holodeck and have fun. How was she supposed to do that?

Now she stood angry, frustrated and annoyed at the door of the holodeck. She sighed heavily and then entered. Seven had absolutely no idea which program to choose. Besides, she had no desire to waste her time on trivial, frivolous leisure activities.

Everything in her was reluctant to waste her precious time in this way. She frustratedly hit the holodeck interface and looked through the database, looking for a suitable program.

Almost immediately she decided to try and choose a training program, but she held back. She was too aware that if she activated one of these programs, the computer would report it to the captain. And who could say what the captain would think up to punish Seven for disobeying her orders? No, she did not want to take that risk.

The longer she looked through the database for a program, the more she became angry. There was nothing she wanted to do. Anything that seemed interesting to her would have disregarded the captain's orders.

Resigned, Seven sat down on the floor of the holodeck and sighed deeply. Suddenly she had the idea to just sit there and wait until the two hours had elapsed. She could sit here and do calculations in her head, analyze things or ...

Suddenly she noticed a data chip lying on the floor a little way off from her. Curious, she picked it up and looked at it.

There was no indication of where the data chip came from or what it contained.

Seven turned it around another time, wondering what she should do now. Weary, she decided that she may just as well put the data chip into the dedicated module.

As she did so, a small town immediately materialized in front of her. Seven looked at the city before her.

There was a marketplace where various stalls offered their goods, behind them were houses with shops, restaurants, bistros, a bookstore, an ice cream shop and much more. The city seemed to be Terran, since all holodeck figures were human. Because of her clothes, Seven suspected they were Terrans of the 21st century.

Before she could decide what she would do in this small town, someone bounced into her. Since Seven was much stronger than she looked, thanks to her Borg physiology, she stood firm. But the person who had run into her fell to the ground and was awkwardly trying to crawl back up.

Seven offered a hand to the young woman who lay on the ground in front of her, looking very confused. Gratefully, the woman took Seven's hand in hers and let Seven pull her up.

"Oops, excuse me, I did not see you. Are you all right? "The woman asked worriedly.

Seven raised her eyewear and looked closer at the woman. She was about the size of Seven, had chocolate-brown chin-length hair, brown eyes, a slender face, and was slim, like Seven. Seven estimated her age to mid to late 20s. So about Seven's age.

"I'm fine, I did not fall over. Thanks for asking. How are you? "Asked Seven politely. The social lessons from the doctor should not have been in vain.

"Oh, I think I'm okay. Only my butt is a little sore. But it's okay. "The woman tried to smooth her clothes and straighten her hair. Then she gave Seven a friendly smile.

"I have never seen you here. Are you visiting here, Berlin, Maryland? "

Seven wondered what she should answer. But then she decided on the simplest answer she could give "Yes, that's correct."

"Oh how nice. What have you seen? "The young woman asked curiously.

"I have just arrived," Seven answered a little uncertainly.

"Well then, surely you need someone to lead you around and tell you a little about this and that?"

"No, that's not necessary. Thank you"

"Too bad, I would like to take you around a little bit, I have the time. So you'll come with me, yes? "

Without waiting for Seven's answer, the woman took Seven's hand in hers and led her over a small hill that led to the marketplace.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Emily. And who are you?"

Seven was a little shocked that the young woman had just taken her hand in her hand. So she blinked in surprise at Emily. "I am Seven of Nine, but you can call me Seven"

"Seven? What an interesting name. Were your parents random mathematicians? "Emily asked amused.

"No, they were exobiologists. They gave me the name Annika. But the people I grew up with called me Seven of Nine. "

"You did not grow up with your parents?" Emily asked in astonishment.

By now they had reached the marketplace.

"No, I grew up with the Borg"

"Oh, the Borg. Sounds Swedish. I always wanted to get to know Europe and the old cultures. How is it in Sweden? "Emily babbled happily to herself.

"No, the Borg are not from Sweden. The Borg are a civilization of cybernetically enhanced bio-organisms. They come from the Delta Quadrant, "Seven replied quickly, before Emily could ask more about Sweden.

"So… sounds interesting. Well Seven, this is our market place, every week there is a market meeting on Thursday. Otherwise, the marketplace is empty of market stalls. "Emily cheerfully continued.

Emily pulled lightly at Seven's hand, which was still in her hand. "Let's go over to Trudy's, they have the world's best apple strudel and their coffee is wonderful."

Emily pulled Seven towards a small cafe. Before Seven knew it, she was already in the small cafe and sat at a small table by the window.

Emily called the waitress and placed the order for 2 apple strudels and 2 coffees. The waitress looked with friendliness at both Seven and Emily.

After the waitress left to obtain the order, Emily looked with friendliness towards Seven.

"What are those beautiful pieces of jewelery over your eye, on your cheek and on your hand?"

"These are not jewelry, they are Borg implants. Unfortunately, the doctor could not remove them. "Seven sighed as she explained.

"You do not like them?" Emily asked, puzzled.

"No, they remind me of what the Borg did to me," Seven said softly, looking down at her hands, which she had neatly placed on her lap.

"Hm ... I'm sorry, but really the implants look very interesting. You look so beautiful "

Seven got a little red at this compliment.

"Thank you," she said timidly.

Emily smiled at her. "Hey, here comes our apple strudel and coffee. How do you like your coffee? "

"I do not know, I have never had coffee before" confessed Seven.

"For real? Well, then I would say that you should definitely have a little milk and sugar. Otherwise it is too strong and too bitter. Not everyone likes it that way. "

Emily added some sugar, as well as milk to Seven's coffee and offered it to her "Please try it and tell me how it is."

Seven gently sipped her coffee and immediately grimaced. "Oh, too bitter, yes?" Emily asked worriedly. "Hold on, we'll just add some more sugar and some milk. So how is that? "

Seven took another sip of her coffee and did not find it as dreadful as before.

"Better, thank you"

Emily immediately smiled happily at Seven.

"Well, then you have to taste the apple strudel now. It is really delicious. I come here at least once a month to eat apple strudel. I have tried several times to bake an apple strudel myself, but unfortunately it has never been as good as Trudys "disappointed, Emily sighed.

Seven took her cake fork, speared a piece of the strudel and gently pushed it into her mouth. The taste of the strudel inevitably made her smile. It was really tasty.

"You see, I knew it, it's good, right? Each of Trudy's apple strudels have a price; one never wants to taste another apple strudel. "

Seven immediately placed another piece in her mouth and enjoyed the taste. "Yes, it is acceptable."

"For real? Are you serious? I cannot believe it. You can't just say that the world's tastiest apple strudel is acceptable. That's not right. "Emily pulled a pout.

Seven felt a little guilty. "I'm sorry. What should I say instead? "

Emily's face lit up again "Well, it's wonderful, delicious and intoxicatingly good. Something like that. But you cannot say that it is acceptable again. Okay? "Emily said firmly. "You have to promise!"

"Promise?" Seven asked uncertainly. She was not sure why it was so important that she should not describe this cake as acceptable.

"Yes, I insist that you promise me. After all, I do not expose everyone to the mystery of the best apple strudel in the world. I only take friends here to enjoy it. "

"Friends? Are we friends? "Asked Seven confused.

"Yes, surely we are friends or rather, I hope that we can become friends. But that works only if you never say * acceptable * again. Agreed?"

"Very well, how do you promise a promise?"

"What? You have never promised anything? Seriously? "Emily asked surprised.

"No, it has not been necessary to promise anyone anything so far. So how do I do it? "

"Well, you put your right hand on your heart, look solemnly solemn and promise * I'll never use the word acceptable again to describe the worlds best apple strudel * That's how it works. Now you," urged Emily to Seven seriously.

Seven put her right hand on her heart and tried hard to look solemn. She then spoke Emily's exact words.

"Very good, and now there's nothing stopping us from becoming friends." Emily beamed from ear to ear.

Seven, however, was unsure how to proceed now. But Emily did not give her time to think, however came up with next idea.

"Seven, you know what? The day after tomorrow is our big picnic auction. And since we are friends now, it would be nice to have the picnic together. What do you think about that?"

"What's a picnic?"

"Are you serious, you do not know what a picnic is? What did the Borg do to you? "Emily asked in astonishment.

"That's correct, I do not know what a picnic is. Please explain it to me!"

"Oh, okay. Now a picnic is something really great. A wicker basket is filled with delicious food and then you look for a nice place outside where you want to have a picnic. You lay out a blanket, place the food you brought along it and then you eat. You can talk or listen to music. It's really fun."

"Well, we can certainly spend this event together. What is required for this? "

"Oh, you just have to come over to the market, bid for a picnic basket, and then we can set off and find a nice place to have a picnic," Emily explained.

"Bid? What does that mean? "Asked Seven curiously.

"Well, every woman in the city packs a picnic basket for her sweetheart, but it does not have to be that way, you can also pack a picnic basket for your friends. Then the basket is handed over to the auctioneer, he evaluates the contents and then announces how much money the picnic basket can be bought for. "

"Does that mean I have to bid on a picnic basket? I have no money."

"Yes, that is it. But what do you mean, that you have no money? Everyone has money or are you poor? "

"Poor? What does that mean?"

Emily rolled her eyes, a little annoyed "Seven, that's not how it works! You really cannot always say that you have no idea about anything. Or are you just wanting to tease me? "Emily asked a little irritably. "All these questions are really getting tedious."

Seven lowered her head in embarrassment. She realized that she really did not know very much about what Emily was talking about.

"No, I really do not know. I do not want to tease you. I'm sorry, "Seven said softly. She had just lost her Borgcoolness.

When Emily saw that Seven was feeling really bad, she immediately regretted being so irritated.

"Hey, I'm sorry too. You know, I've never met anyone who knows so little about so many simple things. I thought you were teasing me or winding me up. But you do not look like you want to annoy me, or…?"

"No, I did not mean to annoy you." Seven answered still very quietly.

"Okay, let's forget about it and I promise to answer every question as best I can. Let's get along with each other, okay? "

Seven raised her head and looked at Emily in bewilderment. Then she nodded her head and said she agreed. She did not understand the saying *let's get along*, but she did not want to ask again.

"Fine, so back to the money. That's not a problem, I think my picnic basket will not be more than $ 10, maybe $ 15. I'll give you the money and you'll bid for my basket, won't you? "

Seven immediately nodded her head and before she could say anything else, the computer voice announced that in 5 min. her holodeck time would expire.

Seven gave a sigh of relief. Quickly she said goodbye to Emily, and Emily insisted on getting Seven to promise that she would bid for her picnic basket on Saturday. Seven had no choice but to make another promise to Emily. Then she quickly finished the program and pulled out the data chip.

Seven briefly considered what she should do with the data chip. After all, it did not belong to her and someone else would surely miss it. Should she put it back on the floor or take it?

Seven decided to take the data chip with her and later hand it over to Commander Chakotay. He could certainly determine who was missing the data chip.


	2. The picnic

"Seven, there you are finally. I was afraid that you would not come any more." Emily said, scolding Seven a little.

******

Seven thought briefly about the past week. She had meant to never start this holoprogram again, but she had made a promise and she found it was dishonorable not to keep a promise. No matter in which culture a promise was made, it was dishonorable not to keep it. So, considering that she had to spend 2 hours a week on the holodeck, she decided to start the program again. After that, she would hand the data chip over to Commander Chakotay and never use it again.

It gnawed at her self-confidence that she knew so little and that Emily had felt she had wanted to annoy her with her many questions. Seven decided to not ask so many questions today. Instead, she would remember everything which confused her and later find out through self-study what she wanted to know.

*******

Emily had met with Seven and pulled her over to the marketplace, where a small stage had been set up. On the stage stood a fat man. Behind the man were many picnic baskets in different sizes stood on a table, waiting to be auctioned off. The fat man was holding up a particularly nice picnic basket and several women were trying to buy it.

Emily showed Seven her basket so she knew which basket to bid on later, then she gave Seven about $ 50, hoping that not all the money would go on the basket.

After about 15 minutes, the fat man finally picked up Emily's picnic basket. Emily immediately went to the spot where the other women had stood before her when their picnic baskets were being inspected and then auctioned.

So, as discussed, Seven bought the picnic basket for $ 18. Emily came joyfully with the picnic basket to Seven and hugged her ardently.

"That went well. Come on, let's find a nice place to picnic, "she said, drawing Seven out of the crowd of people still offering the various picnic baskets.

Emily already had a good idea of where to have a picnic with Seven. So she took Seven by the hand and strolled across the meadow to a tree that provided enough shade to keep the sun away, as it was an extremely warm day.

Under the tree, Emily pulled her picnic blanket out of the basket and spread it on the grass. Then she took Seven's hand and pulled her down to the floor "Come sit down"

Seven responded to the request, but moved very awkwardly. Her organic suit hindered her from sitting gracefully. When Emily saw that, she frowned. "No, not like that! How do you plan on having a relaxed picnic in your strange suit? "

Before she knew it, Emily had pulled her back to her feet, "Let's get you something more convenient for a picnic," then she repacked the blanket and grabbed the basket.

"Where are we going?" Seven asked uncertainly.

"My apartment is not far, just down the street. I think I have exactly the right thing for you "

After a few minutes they arrived at a house. Emily pulled out her door key and unlocked the door. Then they went upstairs and stopped at the second door on the right. Emily used a key again and unlocked the front door.

Then she stepped into the apartment and looked around in surprise when Seven did not follow. "Are you coming?" she asked.

Only then did Seven enter the apartment and look around curiously. In the small hallway where they were standing, there also stood 3 doors. Emily grabbed Seven's hand in hers and pulled her into a room that looked like a living room. Seven noticed that it was very comfortable. Before one wall stood a couch, in front of it a small table, on the other side was a dresser and a square device stood on it.

"What's that?" Seven pointed to the device, completely forgetting about her own curiosity and that she hadn't wanted to ask so many questions.

"Oh," Emily turned to Seven and looked in the direction Seven pointed "This is a TV. You can watch movies, TV shows, news and everything else. Should I show it to you? "

Seven thought for a moment, then shook her head. After all, they were here for something else, and she also wanted to have a picnic before the holo time was up.

Emily understood immediately why Seven had refused and went to a door that was on the side of the couch.

"Come on, my wardrobe is in here. Sit down on the bed while I search for a dress, which in my opinion, will be wonderful. "

As Emily searched for the dress in her closet, Seven looked around the bedroom. She had never been in a bedroom before, so everything was very, very new for her. The bed on which she sat had a coverlet with flowers on it. Beside the bed were small bedside cabinets with small table lamps. On the wall above the bed was a beautiful picture of a flower field. Opposite the bed was the walk-in closet where Emily was still looking for the dress.

After several curses and murmurs, she emerged from the closet flushed. She smiled broadly as she gave Seven a sundress. It was sunflower yellow and sleeveless, with a round neck.

"This is it. What do you say? And remember, you promised something!" Emily warned again.

Seven looked confused at the dress and did not know what Emily meant. But then she remembered that last time she had promised never to say *acceptable* again.

Seven looked at the dress and found that it was acceptable, but avoided saying so. Instead, after several moments she said, "It is very nice."

Emily beamed at Seven happily. "So now put it on, we want to get back to our picnic"

Seven looked uncertainly at Emily and Emily looked at Seven eagerly. "Oh, what? Are you shy, should I turn around?"

Emily turned around with a sigh and waited for Seven to finally undress and put the dress on. After a few minutes, she turned around, but Seven was still dressed in her odd-looking suit on her bed, studying the dress.

Emily sat down with Seven on the bed and asked "What's up, Seven? Do you not like the dress? Should I look for another dress?"

Seven lowered her head and said quietly "No, the dress is beautiful, but I do not know how to put it on."

Emily looked at Seven in surprise. "Oh, okay. How about you first take off your leotard and then I'll help you get dressed. Is that a good idea?"

"It's not a leotard, it's a bio-suit." Seven replied. Then she got up and opened the mechanism on the back of her collar and the organic suit glided down Seven's body.

Emily looked shocked at Seven's naked body and was speechless for a moment.

"God, Seven, you could have warned me that you are completely naked under this thing? I thought you were wearing underwear" Emily admonished.

Seven looked at Emily sadly. "Do you think I look so terrible?"

"What?" Emily asked, surprised. "No, of course not, you look very nice, even with this thing ..."

Emily pointed to Seven's abdominal implant.

"This is my abdominal implant, the doctor cannot remove it without risking my life" Seven explained frankly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But hey, I didn't react like that because of it. I just did not expect you to be naked under your suit. Had I have known, I would have picked out some underwear for you. Wait a minute, I'll get you some quickly."

Emily pulled open a drawer from her dresser and rummaged around the underwear inside. Then she pulled out a yellow bra and a pair of yellow panties. "How do you like these?"

"They are very beautiful."

Seven took the panties and pulled them on. When she looked uncertainly at the bra, Emily took it from her hand. "Come, I'll help you. Put your arms through here and here. Then bring your breasts into the bra cups and then I will hook the clasps at the back. "

After Seven put on the bra, Emily helped her with the dress.

"Wow, you look beautiful. Come look in the mirror. What do you say?"

Seven looked at herself in the mirror, she could not really see what Emily meant. She just saw her implant on her arm and found it ugly. Her abdominal implant was also visible against the fabric.

No, Seven did not find herself very attractive. She was certainly aware that many crewmembers looked at her body admiringly, but she did not like it very much, she always felt a little bit at the mercy of it.

Emily stepped in front of the mirror next to Seven and put her hand gently on Seven's shoulders. "Hey Sweetie, what's going on?" She asked worriedly.

Seven looked at Emily in amazement, "Sweetie?"

"Yes, don't you like being called that?"

"I do not know, nobody has called me that before. Why are you doing it? "

"Oh, well, because it's true. You are sweet. Especially when you tilt your head, raise your eyebrow, and look at me questioningly. "

"Borg are not sweet!" said Seven, determined.

"Oh, they are, especially you, when you try to distract from the topic in question. So what's going on? "

"I ..." Seven looked aside and did not know how to answer.

"Come on, please tell me," Emily encouraged Seven again.

"I do not feel nice. When I look in the mirror, I see the implants and I think that no one could ever love me the way I look presently. "Seven replied softly. Tears came to her eyes, which she quickly wiped with her hand.

Emily pulled Seven into her arms and squeezed her gently. "Hey, you can not think something so stupid about yourself. I think you look very pretty, especially in a dress. Maybe you should wear nice clothes more often? And you know what? If someone does not like your implants and you the way you are, then he is not worthy of your love. Okay?" Emily released Seven and looked at her.

Seven nodded her head, but she was not really sure Emily was right.

"Great, let's go back and have our picnic."

And so they returned to the tree and had their picnic. Emily asked Seven to tell her all about the Borg and her life. She listened attentively when Seven told her everything about the Borg. In return, Emily told her everything about her life.

After a while, the computer voice sounded and informed Seven that she had only 5 minutes remaining holodeck time. Seven had not realized that time had passed so fast, so she was a little disappointed that she had to end the program now. She quickly said goodbye to Emily.

Seven stopped the program and had the computer save it. When she finished the program, Seven stood naked on the holodeck and looked around for her bio suit. When she saw it a few yards away, she went to it and pulled it on.

However, she now felt very strange in her suit. Emily was right, it really was not very pretty and it also compromised Seven's freedom of movement. Seven decided she would soon ask the doctor about the importance of wearing the bio suit. Then she took the data chip out of the module and left the holodeck.

********

As Seven ended the holoprogram and left the holodeck, Emily packed the leftovers of the food into the picnic basket and headed home, confused that Seven had disappeared so early.


	3. Rain, Doorbell and Buffy

As the days on Voyager passed, Seven could still not bring herself to hand over the data chip to Commander Chakotay. She had really enjoyed the picnic and her time with Emily.

Seven kept thinking about the beautiful afternoon she had spent on the holodeck when she was busy working in her astrometry lab, seeming increasingly bored.

How much nicer was it to just sit on a blanket and talk to a friend about her life, and just chat? Emily had listened to her attentively and asked many questions. She was very interested in what Seven had to say and she did not seem annoyed or bored at any moment during the time they spoke. Seven felt comfortable in Emily's company.

Okay, Seven confessed that Emily was just a hologram and was probably programmed to listen attentively and encourage her to continue speaking.

But was it so bad to indulge in the illusion that Emily liked her and liked to listen to her? Even if it had been programmed into her holomatrix?

*No*, Seven decided, it was not so bad. She could indulge in this illusion and it would not change anything about her life on Voyager. But it would make her free time on the holodeck very enjoyable.

So, Seven decided to keep the data chip and use it again on her next holodeck visit.

For her holodeck visit today she had replicated a dress, similar to the dress which she had worn a few days ago for the picnic. Seven was looking forward to continuing the picnic.

But as the holoprogram materialized, her joy was muted. She was in the meadow, but the picnic seemed to be over. Instead, it was dark and only the street lamps from the nearby marketplace lit the small part of the meadow where Seven stood.

As if that was not enough to drain Seven's joy, it was raining too. Every minute Seven stood longer in the meadow, it became wetter and wetter. She looked around, confused, trying to decide what to do next. Should she restart the holo program hoping to be able to finish the picnic, or should she keep it running and look for Emily?

After a few minutes she decided to look for Emily. Seven knew where she lived, so she hoped to find Emily in her apartment. She decided to then set off on the short way there.

When Seven stood in front of Emily's home, she could see light in the windows of her apartment. But at the front door, Seven realized that she had no idea how to get into the house. On Voyager, there was a button in front of each living space which you could press and announce your presence.

But there were a lot of doorbell's here, Seven counted six in total and each one came with a name, but Emily's name could not be seen.

Seven decided to just press any bell and then ask for Emily. When she pressed the first bell, after a short while, a voice sounded, "Yes, who is that?" someone asked. Seven guessed it was a woman's voice.

"Hello, I'm looking for Emily, her name is not listed next to any bell. Can you please tell me which one to press?" asked Seven, politely. 

"Darling, you have to press on E. Rogers" said the voice.

Seven thanked the woman for the information and did as she was told. When she pressed the doorbell labelled E. Rogers a female voice which sounded like Emily's answered a short moment later, "Yes, who is there?"

"It's me, Seven, may I visit you?"

"Seven? Yes, sure, come in. You remember where my apartment is? "Emily sounded very excited when she heard that Seven was standing downstairs by the front door.

A short time later, Seven stood drenched in front of Emily's apartment door. Emily immediately opened the door and hugged Seven fiercely.

"Here you are at last. I was scared that you would not come back ", she then looked at Seven, " Oh my god, you're all wet. What happened? Come on, we'll quickly dry you up. "

With that, she pulled Seven into her apartment and immediately led her to the bathroom.

"Take off your wet clothes, I'll quickly get dry clothes, just wait a minute… "Emily then ran towards the living room.

Seven did not have time to say hello or answer Emily's questions.

Before she could start taking off her dress, Emily stood in the bathroom door with dry clothes.

"Wait, I'll help you." Emily then opened the zipper of Seven's dress. Seven peeled off her wet dress and dropped it to the floor. All she had left was underwear, but they too were wet from the rain so she took them off as well. Emily immediately wrapped her with a large towel and rubbed her dry.

"Sweetie, you're shivering, how long have you been out in this weather?" Emily asked worriedly.

"Only a minute. I started the holoprogram and expected to see you picnicking in the meadow, so I had put on this dress. But you were not there. It was dark and it was raining. I did not know what to do. Then I decided to look for you, but your name wasn't written next to any of the doorbells, so I did not know which one to ring. I rang a random bell and asked for you… " explained Seven as her teeth chattered.

Emily sighed deeply, "The picnic was about a week ago and since then I have been waiting for you to return. What do you mean by holoprogram? "Emily asked curiously.

As Seven continued to tremble, ignoring Emily's question, Emily pulled Seven into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"I'm glad you're here again. Let's get you into the dry clothes, yes? "

Seven nodded with her head still resting on Emily's shoulders from the hug. Emily's embrace felt so good that Seven had closed her eyes for a moment, basking in the beautiful warm feeling.

"Are you hungry? I had just now wanted to make something for myself, "asked Emily after they had quietly stood together for a while during the embrace.

Seven nodded once more and then broke away from the embrace. She then began to put on her dry underwear, shirt and trousers. The pants and shirt were too big and hung loosely around Seven's body. She looked uncertainly down at herself.

"Oh, those have to be loose, they are feel-good clothes. You only wear them at home and you can loll about, relax, or chill comfortably on the couch in them. "

"Relax? Chill? Explain those to me please? " asked Seven.

"No, I'll show you, but first we'll get something to eat. Come over!"

Emily took Seven's hand in hers and pulled her out of the bathroom into the kitchen.

The room was a little larger than the bathroom and had a lot of equipment that Seven had never seen before. She took a close look at everything and when Emily realized that Seven was watching everything, as if she had never seen anything of it before, Emily explained what the equipment was needed for. The toaster, the stove, the microwave, etc.

Then Emily made sandwiches for her and explained what she was doing. Seven found it very exciting. She had never seen food being prepared in this way.

When the sandwiches were ready, they sat on the couch in front of the TV, eating and watching a series called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Emily explained what it was about and Seven soon enjoyed watching the characters interact with each other on the screen.

Too quickly, Seven's holodeck time came to an end and with heavy hearts, Seven and Emily separated. But before that, Seven promised to be back soon.

When Seven finished the holoprogram, she took the data chip and returned to Cargo Bay 2. She put the chip in a data module and started a data analysis. She thought it was very strange that the holoprogram did not start at the picnic where she had saved it and that the program seemed to have continued, even though Seven had disconnected the chip from the data module in the holodeck.

She then set her alcove to an 8-hour regeneration period. She stepped in her alcove and closed her eyes as the regeneration cycle began.


	4. Unexpected Tears and Loneliness

After Seven finished her regeneration cycle she immediately went to her work console and looked at the analysis of the data chip. The analysis revealed no anomalies or other peculiar abnormalities however.

Seven sighed deeply and tried to work out why the holo program was behaving so inexplicably.

However, as it was time to prepare for her work in the Astrometric Lab, she took the data chip and hid it in a groove in her alcove.

Then she started her work.

****

Several days passed during which Seven did not have the opportunity to get hold of holodeck time.

Unfortunately, she had to wait for the next day she was allotted her 2 hour holo time slot.

But the days were clearly too slow for Seven, however she could now understand why other crew members who liked to spend their free time on the holodeck with the different holoscenarios used their free time in this way.

She was looking forward to starting the holoprogram to finally see Emily again and to experience something new with her once more.

With every new day that slowly passed, Seven's patience was put to the test more and more. In the hours after work, in which she was alone with herself and her thoughts, she felt lonely and missed the company of Emily.

The loneliness tormented Seven very much, but she did not want the company of the other crew members on Voyager.

Usually, when she did not understand something or came up with a new thought she could not properly classify, she turned to the captain and she had long discussions with her about what moved or engaged her.

But Seven did not want to talk to the captain, she knew the captain was a busy person. Seven did not want to burden her and besides, she was still a little mad at the captain.

Therefore, Seven wandered restlessly through Voyager. She had no specific destination, but simply hoped to be distracted from the disturbing and lonely feelings that spread inside her. She courteously nodded to the crewmembers she met on her way and was glad they did not ask Seven what she was doing.

Briefly, Seven thought to locate Neelix in the mess hall, but what would she do there? Sit alone at one of the tables conscious that no one would be sitting down with her? With nobody addressing or starting a conversation with her?

No, Seven did not want to face that situation.

So she continued to roam Voyager until she came to an area that had barely any crewmember traffic. She opened a hatch that led to a Jefferies tube and then climbed into it. She then closed the hatch and crawled through the tube. After a few meters she stopped crawling and was overwhelmed by her feelings of loneliness.

At first it started with soft tears that rolled from her eyes over her cheek, but then Seven could not stop the flow of tears as a deep feeling of painful emptiness filled Seven's chest. She curled up onto the floor, gave into her grief and began to cry uncontrollably. Completely exhausted, she fell asleep after a while in this position.


	5. The day after

"Captain Janeway to Seven of Nine", several seconds passed without Seven answering.

"Seven? Please get in touch! "Kathryn's tone sounded a little more worried this time.

About 10 minutes ago the staff meeting had started in the conference room. All were present, except for Seven. Kathryn wanted to know where the hell Seven was and why she was not there with them in the conference room. So she had contacted her, but when Seven did not answer, neither on the first com link nor the second, Kathryn decided to ask the computer.

"Seven of Nine cannot be located," the computer responded honestly.

Kathryn sighed deeply and rubbed her hand over her forehead. "All right, if Seven does not want to come she'll have a good reason. Let's start the meeting. "

All present in the room could well imagine that failure to attend the staff meeting nor to answer the communication call would later have consequences for Seven. Nobody wanted to be in Seven's skin then.

*****

Seven woke at the chirp of her communicator. Very confused, she straightened up in the Jefferies tube, bumping her head on the bulkhead above her. A flash of pain hit her. She covered the sore spot with her hand and checked if she had a head wound. She forgot to answer the captain's call and check in.

She then opened the hatch to the corridor and crawled out of the Jefferies tube. As she climbed outside, she noticed how stiff her joints were and how her body ached unpleasantly in several places.

With stiff steps she headed for the turbolift and was transported to the bridge, deck 1. Once there, she straightened her shoulders, raised her chin arrogantly, put on her cool Borg face and walked into the conference room.

When she arrived everyone looked at her in amazement. Seven sat down and apologized for being late. Everyone looked at her with surprise but Seven ignored their eyes.

Relieved that Seven had finally turned up, Kathryn let Seven's lateness and appearance go and the staff meeting continued.

After the meeting, however, she ordered Seven to her ready room.

When both women arrived, Kathryn replicated a coffee and looked at Seven curiously and worriedly.

Seven looked completely tattered, her hair was messy, her bio suit had several dirty stains on it and her face was grubby on the left side. 

Furthermore, Kathryn had earlier seen that when Seven had entered the conference room her movement was stiff. Even the twitch, as Seven sat in her chair, did not go unnoticed.

Kathryn gestured to Seven to sit on the couch on the upper level. Then she sat down and looked at her anxiously.

Seven upheld her rigid borg mask, showing no sign of what was going on inside of her.

Kathryn rubbed her nose with her thumb and forefinger and sighed deeply, trying to figure out how to start this conversation. She had not seen Seven very often in the last 2-3 weeks, but she had heard from several crewmembers that Seven had been very restless for the last few days, and after today's atypical behavior, Kathryn realized something was wrong. But she knew that if she went wrong in questioning Seven, Seven would be silent and just stare stubbornly at her. So, how to start?

"Hm…. Can you imagine why I wanted to talk to you? "Kathryn gently asked Seven.

Seven's Borgmask fell and she lowered her head. She looked at her dirty hands, which lay neatly in her lap. Quietly she answered "yes", continuing to refuse to look at the captain.

"Seven, look at me please. It's ... "as Seven continued to refuse to look at Kathryn, Kathryn gently took Seven's chin in her hand and picked it up so Seven could look her in the eyes.

But Seven turned her eyes to a point behind Kathryn. Resigned, Kathryn gave up and released Seven's chin.

"It's not that you came late to the staff meeting, but it's how you came. Your hair is messy, your bio suit is dirty and so are you. That's not your style. So I'd like to know what has happened. Please tell me. "Kathryn gently asked.

But Seven lowered her head again, not ready to tell her captain what was wrong. She was silent and Kathryn knew she would not get anything more from Seven.

Kathryn sighed heavily again, "Okay, fine. But I want you to know that you can come to me anytime you are a bit unhappy or you have a problem. Yes? " she asked. She really hoped Seven would turn to her for guidance with whatever she was dealing with before anything bad happened.

Seven nodded her head and then got up abruptly, wanting to leave the captain's ready room as fast as possible.

But before she could leave, Kathryn put her hand on Seven's arm. "There's something else I want to talk to you about. Please stay a moment, "Kathryn asked her.

Seven remained with her head turned away from Kathryn, refusing to turn back to her.

"I know that my order for you to only work in the alpha shift, and for you to visit the holodeck once a week for 2 hours, has made you very angry with me. I also noticed that you have avoided me since then. But I want you to know that I only gave this order because I am concerned for your well being and that I want you to be okay. Can you understand this?"

Seven simply nodded her head, then left the ready room without another word or glance towards Kathryn.

Kathryn felt very bad at that moment. She did not want Seven to be mad at her. She missed their evening talks and Velocity games on the holodeck. Also, she was worried about Seven since she had appeared so worn out in the conference room today.

How could she ever bridge the gap between them, Kathryn wondered, worried.


	6. Bad Day

After Seven had returned to her alcove in the evening, she was deeply happy that she was able to rest.

The day had started horribly and had not got any better.

After leaving the captain's ready room, she had felt miserable. Not only did she look completely knackered and dirty, no, the captain was also the only person whose opinion was important to her, and the captain was disappointed.

How could she have told her captain why she looked like she did? How could she have told her that she only looked beaten up because she had cried herself to sleep in a Jefferies tube?

No, she could not have revealed that. Borg do not cry. Absolutely no way. No way.

When she was finally presentable, she started her work in the Astrometrics Laboratory. But even work could not reassure her today. She found it hard to become absorbed by work in the way she usually did.

Her thoughts kept wandering back to the previous evening which she had spent feeling so broken. How could that have happened? She was Borg, and Borg do not cry - they have no emotional reactions!

And because she was so distracted by her thoughts, she made other mistakes. No dramatic mistakes, but still mistakes that she had never made before. Even Ensign Tal Celest had noticed how incapable Seven had been today doing her job.

When the Alpha shift finally ended, Seven was glad to leave her work.

Ashamed, she went to Cargo Bay 2 and sat frustrated on her alcove platform, taking her head in her hands. She was mad at herself as she felt she had completely failed in her work today.

After sitting there for a while, Seven thought things could not continue like this. She needed a place where she could remain undisturbed.

So she scrambled to her feet, squared her shoulders and put on her borgmask. Then she left Cargo Bay 2 with the goal of finding a retreat.

However, when she returned to Cargo Bay 2 in the evening, she had not found such a place, resolving to continue her search for it later.


	7. Strawberrycake

Finally, it was the day Seven was to return to the holodeck and use her holo time. She had been fidgety and restless all day. The last two days had not improved from that day she had felt like she had failed so terribly.

At least she had realised that her 2 hours holo time today could be increased to 4 hours.

*********

Emily opened her apartment door with joy as Seven appeared and immediately pulled Emily into a hug.

"I missed you," she said softly, wiping the small tears that ran down her cheek with her hand.

Emily gently squeezed Seven, "I missed you too", then she gently kissed Seven on the cheek and pulled away from Seven's hug, leading Seven into her apartment.

"Come on, let's get you some comfortable clothes so you can change from your bio suit. And then let's decide what we want to do today. "

Emily pulled Seven into her bedroom and searched for more appropriate clothes for her. She then gave Seven the necessary privacy so she could change undisturbed.

As soon as Seven had the new clothes, she felt better. She made a mental note that if she ever found a place to retreat, she would replicate and wear this type of clothing there too.

When she was dressed, she strolled back into the living room, but Emily was not visible so she went into the hall and followed the sounds she heard from the kitchen. There, Emily was standing at the kitchen counter, picking out several bowls, implements and other things.

Emily smiled kindly at Seven when she saw her standing in the kitchen. "Come on, let's have a delicious cake today. I got some nice strawberries at the market yesterday, we can make a strawberry cake with them. Do you like that idea? "

Seven nodded her head and watched curiously as Emily put everything on the kitchen counter.

"I have never baked. How shall I proceed correctly and what is needed? "Seven asked intently.

Emily looked at her in amusement. "No, sweetie, baking is not a complicated affair that one must approach with Borg perfection in mind. It is something one approaches with love, that is the secret. So first we have to prepare the dough. That requires butter, 250g sugar and vanilla sugar - we will need to stir these until they are frothy. "

Emily put a bowl in front of Seven and gave her the needed ingredients. She then showed her exactly how to measure the ingredients on the kitchen scale. After Seven measured everything, Emily gestured for her to place them in the bowl. Then she took a whisk and showed Seven how to stir the ingredients to make them frothy. As soon as Seven had observed enough of this task, Emily handed her the beater. She was astonished when, thanks to her Borg-reinforced wrist, within a short time, Seven had stirred the mass into a froth.

"Sweetie, you're awesome. Now we have to add a pinch of salt and a Citroback and stir in the 6 eggs and whipped cream. Do you know how to open the eggs? "

"No, please show me?" Seven asked with interest.

Emily picked up an egg and gently tapped it against the edge of the bowl, cracking it. She then carefully separated the two eggshells and slid the egg in the bowl.

She then gave Seven an egg "You have to tap it carefully but with enough force against the edge of the bowl to crack it, but be careful, too much force and the whole egg breaks and its contents run out before you can put them in the bowl," Emily explained patiently.

Seven took the egg and gently tapped it against the edge of the bowl. She then emulated Emily's previous actions and poured the egg into the bowl. She beamed happily when she successfully completed this job.

"That was very good, sweetie. Now add the other 4 eggs and then the whipped cream, flour and baking soda should then be added into this mixture."

While Seven separated the last 4 eggs from their eggshells, Emily looked at her with a smile and was pleased that Seven now looked better. Earlier at the door she looked very tense and sad somehow when she had embraced Emily.

After the eggs were poured into the bowl, Emily gave Seven the whipped cream, the flour and the baking soda. Seven then put them in the bowl and looked at Emily expectantly.

"Now we have to mix it into a smooth dough. For this you can take a blender or you can do it by hand. What would you rather do? "

Seven thought for a moment and then decided on the blender. Emily pulled it out of a cupboard and showed Seven how to mix the dough with it.

"You have to hold the bowl so that the dough will not spurt out, okay?"

Seven did as Emily had told her and rejoiced as after a short while, the mass was mixed into a nice, supple dough.

"Okay, now the dough must be brought onto the baking sheet, but first we have to grease the sheet. To do this we take a piece of butter and rub the sheet with it. Try it here…"

Seven took the piece of butter which Emily offered her and rubbed it on the sheet which lay within the baking tray. Next, the dough was spread on the sheet and then pushed into the oven. Seven watched with interest as Emily turned the various knobs on the stove until the correct temperature was set.

"The dough now has to stay in the oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, we have to wash the strawberries and remove the leaves. Do you see? "Emily showed Seven what she meant and after a short while, Seven helped her eagerly.

"So, now we have to halve the strawberries and then sugar them. Would you like to take over doing that? "

"Yes," said Seven, taking the bowl of clean strawberries and cutting them in half with a knife.

Meanwhile, Emily prepared the pudding and then cooked it.

Both women worked in a pleasant silence as each was absorbed by her work.

"Okay sweetie, let's get the dough out of the oven. Here, take the oven gloves so you don't burn yourself "

Seven put on the chunky cloth gloves, took the hot baking tray out of the oven and put it on the kitchen counter.

"The pudding must now be spread on the dough and then we can put the strawberries on it."

Emily showed Seven how best to spread the pudding on the dough, then handed her the spoon.

After the pudding was spread, Emily put the spoon in her mouth and licked it off.

"Hm ... that tastes delicious. Try it. "Emily took a new spoon from the cutlery box, scooped some pudding on it and placed it into Seven's mouth.

"Very good, may I have some more?" Seven asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah sure, we still have some pudding in the pot. But don't eat too much, otherwise you will not be hungry enough for the strawberry cake later on. "Emily said to Seven, smiling.

Seven took the small pudding pot in one hand and with her other hand eagerly spooned the pudding into her mouth.

"Come on you little sweet-eater, let's go into the living room. The cake has to cool down a bit."

And with that she tugged at Seven, who continued to eat pudding in the living room.

"What do you want to do? Listen to music, watch TV, lounge, talk or cuddle? "Emily asked Seven with a wink.

Seven looked up in surprise from the pudding pot and thought for a moment. Then she grinned happily at Emily "Cuddle, watch TV and talk. Can we do that? "

"Sure, but let's get your sweetpout clean first" Emily teased Seven.

"Sweetpout?"

"Yes, that's what I mean by your mouth. You have some pudding there. May I? "When Seven nodded, Emily wiped the custard off Seven's lip with her fingers and put it in her mouth.

"Delicious"

Seven blushed and said softly "Thank you"

"No problem, sweetie. May I take the pot to the kitchen? "

Seven nodded and handed the empty pot to Emily. Emily went into the kitchen with it and got a blanket out of the hall closet on the way back.   
Then she sat down on the couch, close to Seven, and spread the blanket over them both.

With the remote control, she turned on the TV and flicked through the channels, looking for a suitable program, movie or series. As she switched through the channels, she pulled Seven with her free arm so that they were snuggled close together.

Casually she asked Seven, "Are you all right sweetie? You were sad when you arrived, right?"

Seven stiffened a little at the question and then sighed deeply, "The last few days have been difficult for me."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Emily asked softly.

Seven shook her head and Emily gently kissed her head.

"That's okay. But, if you want to talk, you can do that. "

"Thanks," Seven answered softly. "Can we watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer again?"

"Nah, I'm sorry, that's not coming on today. But we will definitely find something equally exciting, or would you rather see something funny? "

"Yes, that would be a-…" before Seven could say * acceptable *, she quickly stopped herself, finishing her sentence with, "beautiful."

Emily grinned at her broadly, she had not missed that Seven was about to say the wrong word.

"You're really sweet" said Emily, before kissing Seven on her head again. Then a wonderful idea came to her.

"Sweetie, how about we let your hair down? I've never seen you with your hair loose. I could brush it and then braid it. "

Before Seven could answer, Emily had already disappeared in the direction of the corridor. A short time later she returned with a brush.

"May I?"

Seven nodded her head and Emily carefully pulled the hair pins out of Seven's hair and released it. She then slid the brush gently through Seven's hair, "Your hair is wonderfully soft, why do you always hide it in this hairstyle?"

Seven thought for a moment, "It's more efficient to carry it like that, so it does not hinder me at work, "Seven replied.

Emily frowned, "If it bothers you, why don't you get it cut to a length that does not bother you?"

"I do not know. I have not thought about it yet, "Seven answered honestly. "It has not been relevant to me how I wear my hair"

"Oh sweetie, that's wrong. This is a very relevant point in your life. You have to feel good in your skin and in your life. And that is only possible if one deals with these things by finding out for yourself how you like to wear your hair, which clothes you prefer, what you like to eat, which people you like to spend your free time, and so much more. None of this is irrelevant. "

Seven thought about what Emily had just said, but then she asked anxiously, "But how am I supposed to find out?"

"Well, I will help you. It's not very difficult, it's fun, even. The next time we see each other, we will go shopping and find out what clothes you like, OK? But first, I'll get the strawberry cake. "

Emily put the hairbrush on the coffee table and hopped off towards the kitchen. Seven followed her and helped her carry her plate. Then they ate the strawberry cake and Seven felt very comfortable sat with Emily.

The 4 hours holo time passed very quickly and when the computer announced that their holo time would expire in 5 min, tears swelled in Seven's eyes. When Emily noticed, she pulled Seven into her arms and smoothed Seven's back.

"Shhh, shhh sweetie, you'll be back soon and then we'll go shopping and have a lot of fun. Don't cry, shhh, shhh…"

Seven pulled herself from Emily's embrace, straightened her shoulders, put on her borg mask, and said goodbye to Emily. Then she finished the holoprogram, quickly put on her bio suit and left the holodeck.

When she arrived at Cargo Bay 2 she locked the door with a Borg encryption code and sat on the landing in front of her alcove. She pulled her knees against her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. Then she rested her head on her knees and cried bitterly.


	8. Unexpected kindness

B'Elanna was searching for a container at the back of Cargo Bay 2, which some time ago she had packed some items she now needed.

At a distance she heard the doors to the cargo bay open and close again, and then the sound of Seven inputting an encryption seal on the door.

She was just about to confront the Borg and ask her what the hell she was up to, but then she saw how Seven sat down on the landing in front of her alcove and began to cry. B'Elanna was amazed at the sight. She then frowned and wondered what to do next. She had never seen the 'Ice Princess' in that condition.

Only a very cold-hearted humanoid could have turned away from this heart-rending sight without doing anything, and B'Elanna was not like that.

So she carefully approached Seven, thinking that if Seven heard her come close, and if her surprise presence in the cargo bay was unwanted, Seven would tell her. After all, you could always rely on that - Seven never minced her words.

But Seven did not seem to notice B'Elanna's presence during her distress. Therefore, B'Elanna managed to sit next to Seven and place her right arm comfortingly around Seven's shoulders. Seven put her head on B'Elanna's shoulder, wrapped her arms around B'Elanna's body and held on to her as she continued to cry.

B'Elanna gently stroked Seven's head with her left hand and tried to calm her down.

Very slowly, the crying and sobbing stopped.

Seven, now more aware of her surroundings, released her arms from B'Elanna's body and looked at B'Elanna in surprise.

"Lieutenant?" said Seven, blinking tears out of her eyes and wiping them with her hand.

"Are you feeling better?" B'Elanna asked softly.

Seven shook her head in embarrassment, "I'm sorry Lieutenant, I've stained your uniform"

"No problem, I can recycle it. Would you like to talk? " inquired B'Elanna.

Seven squared her shoulders and tried to put on her borgmask, but she did not quite succeed in view of the situation, she therefore softly replied a simple, "No."

"Okay, but ... well, I know we're not friends and we argue and fight a lot, but if there's anything you want to discuss, I'm here, OK?"

Seven looked at B'Elanna in astonishment, then nodded her head "Thank you." She then smiled slightly at B'Elanna.

B'Elanna smiled back happily, "Well, should I go, and leave you alone?"

Seven thought for a moment that it would be nice if someone was here with her, but this was B'Elanna Torres, the woman with whom she had the most disagreements, the woman who had often freely admitted that she did not like Seven. Could Seven ask her to stay and keep her company?

B'Elanna saw exactly what Seven was thinking by her expression, so she got up, put her hand on Seven's shoulder again and rubbed it lightly. "Come on, open the door, I'll go and you can rest again. OK?"

Seven looked at B'Elanna, then lowered her head and looked at her hands, which she had placed in her lap, "Lieutenant? "

"Yes?" B'Elanna asked.

"I ..." Seven started, but then did not continue.

When B'Elanna looked at Seven, she suddenly realized what Seven might want to ask.

"No problem, I will not tell anyone that you have cried. Promise me only one thing, yes? "

Seven looked at B'Elanna in surprise before B'Elanna answered, "Talk to someone about your problem, okay?"

Seven nodded her head in relief. She then got up and entered a code into the interface next to the door and the door opened. B'Elanna said goodbye with a small nod and then stepped out of Cargo Bay 2.

When B'Elanna left Cargo Bay 2, she was a little unsure if she should really have left Seven alone.

Whatever made the 'ice princess' cry, could not be good. She decided to look for Seven more often in the next few days and see if she could find out what was going on.


	9. The Idea

Due to the surprising friendliness of Lieutenant Torres, Seven no longer felt so lost and lonely, and a new idea was born in her mind.

She'd spent several days searching for a place on Voyager where she could retreat. Unfortunately she had not found one. But wouldn't it be possible to isolate a small area here in the cargo bay for use as a sanctuary to which she could always retreat when needed?

Seven walked slowly through the cargo bay, looking closely at the whole room. There were several large shelves with all sorts of cargo containers, large and small, and other equipment being used for further storage.

Seven wondered how much space she needed. She figured that a small room of 7m² would be enough to meet her needs. Since the cargo hold had a ceiling height of approx. 5-6 m, a sanctuary could also expand its space into this height. Maybe it could have two levels?

After a closer look at the bay, she decided it would be possible to move the row of shelves near her alcove and create a small space behind it.

However, she was aware that she had to do it alone, as she did not want anyone to know what she was doing. Seven closed the door to the hold and entered an encryption code.

Then she got down to work and removed all the containers and freight containers from the shelves, shifting them right out of the way. Shifting the containers took up most of the night.

She moved the row of shelves about 2 meters forward and re-stacked it with the containers. This took less time than clearing it, even though Seven was already pretty exhausted, but working in silence and with a goal in mind revived her.

After the row of shelves was loaded again, Seven brought some other freight containers and piled them up on one side of the small space that she had created so the cavity was hidden from view from this side. To hide the other side, Seven replicated a bulkhead with a hidden door and expertly attached it, rendering the cavity invisible from view.

Satisfied with her work and still with a little time left before she had to work her shift in the astrometrics lab, Seven sat in her self-made retreat and considered how she wanted to design it.

The idea of building a second level into the space formalised itself more and more in Seven's mind. This meant, however, that she had to replicate more bulkhead walls and put them all around the first level, so that she could not see the second level either. Furthermore, Seven thought that soundproofing would be handy, so maybe she could listen to music or even have a TV without anyone knowing it.

Seven was suddenly full of new ideas on how to make herself comfortable here, and she gained new courage, new energy, confidence and motivation. Her tears of loneliness were forgotten.

But before she could continue to consider the work ahead of her, she had to start her shift. So she got up with a sigh, left her little room and looked again to see if it was really hidden from outsiders. Then she set off for work with a sweep in her step, something which she had lost for a while.

**********  
In the days that followed, crew members who wanted to go to Carogo Bay 2 for containers or other things were stopped by the locked door.

It happened so often that complaints piled up to the Captain. The captain had no choice but to contact Seven and order the astrometrics officer to her ready room.

But Seven was so engrossed in her eagerness to build a sanctuary that she did not want to waste any unnecessary time talking to the captain. She therefore sent a brief message, apologizing, but informing the captain that it would be necessary for her to seal Cargo Bay 2 for a few hours each day over the next few days.

The captain was amazed and wondered what Seven was doing in Cargo Bay 2. However, trusting Seven and knowing that she would never harm Voyager on purpose, she gave her the time she needed.

Kathryn was annoyed though that Seven had ignored her order, not coming to her ready room to speak with her, but the Captain swallowed her anger, not wanting to cause any more trouble between Seven and herself.

Kathryn missed the time Seven used to spend with her and the long discussions they had shared. Kathryn had long been attracted to Seven and only her status as captain had, those times previous, forbidden her from following those feelings. But she had enjoyed Seven's company as a friend and conversational partner, and now longed for that time again. She really hoped that the gap between them could someday be bridged and that they could go back to being friends again, outside of their service to Voyager.

*****  
After 3 days of hard work, Seven finally finished her sanctuary, having sealed it with bulkheads and soundproofing. It was not visible from the outside, and Seven was very happy with her work.

However, Seven was so exhausted afterwards that she asked Commander Chakotay for a day off to give her enough time to have a longer regeneration cycle.

Although Commander Chakotay was greatly surprised by this request, he gave her the day off, however he mentally noted Seven's request down to later discuss with the captain.


	10. Shopping Trip

While Seven continued making her retreat nice and cosy, her days passed so quickly that she almost missed her holo visit.

Thankfully, the computer reminded her of it in time.

**********

"Sweetie, you have to try on this skirt and blouse. Please! "Emily tried one last time to persuade Seven.

Emily had dragged Seven to a second-hand store about an hour ago and since then the two had tried on a selection of different outfits. At the beginning, it was fun for Seven to try on pants and blouses, but now she was exhausted, and aware that she would have to leave the holodeck soon, having only one hour remaining holo time.

"Emily?"

Emily looked over at Seven, "Yes, sweetheart? What's happening?"

"I do not need any more stuff, I think I have enough. Can we return now? Please? " asked Seven a little shyly.

"Okay, but don't forget, a woman can never have enough stuff" Emily winked at Seven and took the 3 pairs of pants, 2 blouses, 1 skirt and 4 pullovers intended for Seven to the checkout. Then she gave the cashier the money and paid for the things.

It turned out that Seven had a taste all of her own, or, in this case, no taste at all for clothing. She preferred loose-fitting items, not chic, but hideous. Emily suspected it had something to do with Seven's self-confidence or her own perception of herself.

So Emily put aside all the things Seven had picked out and instead sought out things that emphasized Seven's beautiful curves in the right places.

So she picked out a nice, black pants skirt, which looked beautiful on Seven in combination with a white shirt. Then there was a pencil skirt that could be combined with a Peter Pan collar blouse. The 4 sweaters they had chosen were rather loose but Emily thought they fitted well with the 2 pairs of jeans.

Overall, Emily was very happy with the selection, but above all, she was careful to make sure that Seven felt comfortable in the clothes.

"Come on, let's go. Next time, we'll buy you more shoes, underwear, and a little more klimbim."Emily said, smiling widely at Seven.

"Klimbim? What do you mean by that? "Seven asked uncertainly.

"Oh, you know - earrings, necklaces, bracelets, everything that glitters beautifully on a woman and enchants the men."

"I do not want to enchant men," Seven admitted worriedly.

"Oh, Sweetie. You do not have to, they are already enchanted by you without any jewellery. "

"No, Emily I'm serious, I do not want men interested in me. So it is not necessary to buy Klimbim," said Seven, determinedly.

Emily looked at Seven a little perturbed and briefly thought about what she should say.

"Okay, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. Don't worry, we won't get anything which makes you feel uncomfortable, okay?"

"Thanks," Seven replied with relief.

"Sweetie, may I ask you something?" Emily asked shyly.

When Seven nodded slightly with her head, Emily asked her, "You're not interested in men, are you?"

Seven shook her head in embarrassment and lowered it as they made their way to Emily's apartment.

"Hey Sweetie, it's okay, there is no reason to hang your head. Is there anybody else you're interested in? "Emily asked rather briskly.

Seven nodded her head again but did not look at Emily.

"Is it someone I know?"

"No," said Seven softly.

"Okay, so it's someone you work with, yes?"

"Yes, but…"

"It's okay sweetie, you don't have to tell me. Sorry, I'm sometimes too curious. "She pulled Seven into a hug and gave her a little peck on the cheek to apologize.

Seven smiled gently at Emily and quickly kissed her cheek, "Thank you for not asking."

Then they arrived at Emily's apartment and stowed the newly-bought clothes in Emily's wardrobe.

Afterwards, the two lolled comfortably on the couch and Seven told Emily everything about her new retreat.

Emily was very proud of Seven's ingenuity, though she did not fully understand why Seven was not trying to find her own quarters, as other crewmembers did where Seven was from. So far, Seven had been very cautious about this topic, but for Emily that was not important, the only important thing was that Seven was fine.

Together, they discussed what she could do with this little retreat. What would be feasible and what might not work.

"It's the captain," Seven said suddenly, out of nowhere.

Emily looked at Seven in amazement, "What did you say?"

"It's the captain!" repeated Seven again. When Emily still did not seem to understand, Seven continued, "Who I am interested in. You asked earlier."

"Oh, you mean girl, I thought you weren't interested in men! "

Seven rolled her eyes, as she had often seen Emily do when she was annoyed by anything.

"The captain is a woman. Emily, you just want to tease me… Or?" Seven began to enquire, but when Emily grinned widely, Seven knew that Emily was, in fact, just trying to tease her.

"Sorry sweetie, the opportunity was favorable. You have to tell me everything about your captain, yes? And then ... "But before Emily could talk further, the computer announced that Seven's holo time would expire in 5 minutes.

Seven sighed, annoyed, and rolled her eyes again. She almost said "shit", something Emily often said when things went wrong.

"I have to go. But, if you like, I'll tell you everything next time. Yes? "Seven asked carefully.

"Oh Sweetie, you can bet your sweetest ass. I want to know everything about your Captain on your next visit. You can't leave anything out. And then you have to tell me everything you have done to your retreat. I insist. And we will also come up with a plan for how to figure out if the captain feels the same for you as you do for her. "Emily hugged Seven affectionately and gave her a peck on the cheek. Seven also gave Emily a gentle hug and said goodbye with a small smile.

Then Seven ended the holoprogram.

On her way back to Cargo Bay 2, she accidentally stumbled into B'Elanna.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I was in thought. "Seven had copied this apology from Emily, who seemed to be constantly in thought whenever she bumped into anybody, and Seven grinned slightly at the memory.

B'Elanna looked at Seven seriously. For one thing, Seven had spoken a completely unfathomable sentence, and for another, because she was now grinning a little as well.

"Seven, are you alright?" She asked.

"Yes, I think I'm fine. Thank you for asking. "

"Oh wow Seven, what's up? No 'I am functioning within acceptable parameters', and also, a 'Thank you'? Is everything really okay? "B'Elanna asked incredulously.

Seven grinned briefly at B'Elanna, then she answered very seriously, "Hm ... It was probably body eaters, or too much sun." Seven then turned on her heels and continued on her way towards Cargo Bay 2, leaving a very confused B'Elanna.

After B'Elanna had recovered from her shock, she called after Seven, "Was that a joke?"

Seven turned around and winked "Possibly" towards B'Elanna, before moving away.

B'Elanna shook her head in disbelief. What was up with the 'ice princess'?


	11. Discovered

During the next few days, Seven continued to build her retreat. The first level had a ceiling height of 2.50m, so Seven could stand upright. This level had a small separate niche with a sonic shower.

Otherwise, on this level, there was simply a lot of cushions and pillows, but on one wall Seven had installed a TV, and from Voyager's database she had downloaded several films, series and programs and had filled the television with them.

She could therefore sit comfortably on the cushions while watching TV, and found observing the interplay between individuals who appeared in different films and series extremely interesting.

The second level had a ceiling height of almost 2 m and Seven had the first and second levels connected with a ladder. On the second level she had laid a mattress down to use as a bed and had used Starfleet-issue bedding. On the far corner of the bed and on the pillow, a shaggy teddy bear stood guard over Seven's kingdom.

Seven had thought it strange at the beginning, when Emily had advised her to get a stuffed animal, but now that she had already cuddled up to him in bed for two nights and could sleep better because of it, she began to really understand that a stuffed animal could give great comfort.

At the other end of the second level, Seven had set up a clothes rack on which she had hung her previously replicated garments. Seven replicated exactly the things she'd recently acquired with Emily's help in the holoprogram.

Between the bed and the clothes rack, Seven had placed a small lamp on a small bedside drawer.

All in all, Seven was very happy with her new home.

******

She lay on her bed reading a book about a fantasy saga recommended to her by Emily. It was about a fictive universe set in the Middle Ages on a continent called Westeros. In Westeros, there were 7 royal lands which formed a kingdom for about 300 years. Westeros was ruled by King Robert Baratheon, but after he died, a dispute arose over his throne.

The fictional story had captivated Seven after a short time. She could not believe how barbarous this story was in part, or how quickly someone so important was simply killed, like Ned Stark.

Seven was so engrossed in her novel that she did not realise that her communicator, which she had placed on the bedside table, had hummed.

Only after the second or third hum did Seven look up from her book and register that her communicator was trying to make itself known. Annoyed, she picked it up and clicked it.

"Yes?" Seven asked uncertainly.

"Hey Seven, this is B'Elanna, I've already tried to reach you two / three times and frankly I'm really irritated. Where the hell are you? "B'Elanna asked angrily.

"In Cargo Bay 2?" Seven asked hesitantly.

"Well, that can't be, I'm standing right here in front of your alcove and you are nowhere to be seen. So where are you? "Came the annoyed answer from B'Elanna.

"Lieutenant Torres, would you mind telling me what you want from me?" Seven asked, also annoyed.

B'Elanna frowned and was nearly about to explode. "Well, I need your help with a project in the engine room"

"If that is so, unfortunately I have to refuse my help. On the one hand, I'm only allowed to work in the alpha shift, and on the other, you just sound as though you're wanting to argue and fight more than seek my help, so I will not tell you where I am. Seven out. "Seven then picked up her book again and relaxed.

B'Elanna was more than amazed at this answer. Since when did Seven voluntarily refuse to accept work and since when did she no longer want to argue or fight? So far, Seven had used every opportunity to vex her, hadn't she? What was wrong with her?

Secretly, B'Elanna had hoped to get some answers from Seven while they were working together. She wanted to find out what was going on with Seven, why she had cried, why Cargo Bay 2 had been locked so often lately and why Seven was not in Cargo Bay 2, even though the computer confirmed that she was here.

There was so much that B'Elanna would have liked to know, but now Seven was hiding, and B'Elanna did not like that at all. She decided she would definitely not give up her plan. Eventually, there would be an opportunity to question Seven.

B'Elanna, however, did not feel like waiting any great length of time for an opportunity, so it occurred to her that she might get to Seven differently.

Well, the Borg had to be concealed somewhere here in Cargo Bay 2, so B'Elanna looked around. Unfortunately, she was not here often, therefore she did not notice anything particularly different. She looked behind freight containers and shelves, but did not find Seven.

Unsuccessful so far, she thought for a moment and then decided to simulate a red alert in Cargo Bay 2. With a few small clicks on Seven's workstation, she'd simulated a deceptively real simulation of a red alert in just a few minutes.

After only a few seconds, Seven stood confused in Cargo Bay 2. She had a big shirt and a pair of wide boxer shorts on and her long legs and feet were bare. Her hair was loosely tied together in a braid.

B'Elanna thought the sight of Seven was very sweet for a moment.

Seven rushed to her alcove and stopped abruptly when she saw B'Elanna at her work console.

"Caught," said B'Elanna with a grin. "I knew you were here somewhere. Nice outfit. "

B'Elanna strolled over to Seven and looked into the hidden room. "May I?" B'Elanna asked innocently.

"No," Seven replied defiantly, and with frustration. "Lieutenant, you deliberately misled me. That is dishonourable and unkind. "

"Well, if you want to get a mouse out of a hiding place and catch it, you have to set up some traps. So if you don't want me to go straight to the captain and tell her all about your little hiding place, then you should be nicer to me. "B'Elanna pointed out to Seven.

Having no other choice, Seven headed in the direction of her retreat and pulled B'Elanna inside.

Then she closed the door behind her, so at least no one else would find out what was going on.

B'Elanna looked around in surprise at the small room, "What is this?" She asked confused.

Seven lowered her head, "My new home," she answered softly.

"Your home?" B'Elanna asked in astonishment.

"Yes, otherwise I have no place which I can call my own. Every now and then somebody comes to Cargo Bay 2 looking for something or having to bring something back. I have no privacy, so I separated this area. "

Amazed, B'Elanna asked, "Why didn't you ever ask the captain for a place to stay?"

Seven sat on a cushion and fumbled busily at her shirt. B'Elanna sat next to her on another cushion and looked at her curiously.

"Seven?" She asked again.

"I ... there are no vacant quarters and I do not think anyone wants to share their quarters with me. And I ... I am Borg "Seven replied softly.

"Okay, you might be right about the first two points, but what does that have to do with you being Borg?" B'Elanna asked, frowning.

Seven sighed deeply. "As Borg, I stole the lives of many humanoids and assimilated them. I took their individuality from them and made them Borg. I do not deserve to have my own quarters. I'm not worth it. "Murmured Seven softly.

B'Elanna stared in open-mouthed amazement, for a moment she did not know what to say.  
At the beginning, she had thought similarly; that as Borg, Seven had brought too much suffering and misfortune to other living things, and that the captain was crazy to let Seven stay on Voyager. She herself had often admitted her distaste for Seven and had previously told Seven what she thought of her, and so far, she had never felt guilty about it.

But now that Seven was sitting on a cushion next to her, fiddling with her shirt and looking so guilty and remorseful, B'Elanna could not help but feel deeply guilty herself for all the times she'd openly attacked Seven and was hostile towards her. She felt guilty for all the fights and disagreements, and for the mean claims she sometimes made about Seven's cool way.

She could now see Seven without her Borg Mask, a Seven who looked young and lost, as she sat and fumbled with her shirt, close to tears.

"Seven, I ... I know," B'Elanna stammered awkwardly, "We've never been friends, I mean I've been an enmity towards you, but even for me, that sounds like bullshit. What I mean is okay, I've never thought about how you live here and what keeps you busy. But I think, yes, you caused a lot of suffering as Borg, but now you're here and you've done a lot for Voyager, I think you deserve to be happy and to have your own quarters. And you know what? I think that I also owe you an apology. "

Seven looked up in surprise, looking at B'Elanna with confusion. "Why?" She asked.

"Because I dumped my hatred of the Borg on you, and let you feel that hatred very often. It was wrong of me and I'm sorry. Please accept my apology. Yes?"

Seven did not know what to say. She thought about it for a moment.

"Lieutenant, you do not have to apologize to me, you have every right to hate me and to be hostile towards me. I am Borg, I have caused sorrow and I can never make up for it. I had tried, by devoting my time to Voyager, that is to say I had wanted to be able to repay my thanks for being freed from the Borg, by doing what I did best; working, providing my knowledge and offering my help at any time. But the captain took that away from me. I cannot work effectively for Voyager anymore. I've got free time that I cannot use. I do not remember exactly who I am, what to do, and I feel lonely. "

Seven looked very small and vulnerable when she finally shared in what state she had spent the last few weeks.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her head in them as soft tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh Kahless," thought B'Elanna, what a mess.

She gently put her arm around Seven's shoulders and tried to comfort her.

"I didn't know that. I mean, I wasn't interested in what you did with your spare time or how you lived. As your supervisor, I should have paid more attention to what concerns you and what problems you have. I'm so sorry. But on the other hand, the captain took care of you and you got so much attention from her that myself and other crew members resented you for it, and so you felt our anger about it. Well, I have to apologize to you. "

She pulled Seven into a hug and held her tight. After a while, Seven broke away from B'Elanna's embrace, wiping the tears from her face with her hand.

"Please, do not say anything about my retreat. I promise, I will do anything you want, but please do not tell anyone. "Seven looked at B'Elanna anxiously and imploringly.

B'Elanna was very surprised by this offer and immediately became very angry. How could the Borg assume that she would betray her? How could Seven think that she would have to pay for B'Elanna's silence?

"Listen, Seven, that really pisses me off. So stop that shit. You don't have to do anything for me, just so I will not tell the captain. The very thought of it is very dishonorable ... "

Before B'Elanna could continue to rant and release steam, Seven began to cry and sniff again.

Kahless, what was going on with the Borg? What had made her so sensitive and so close to tears lately?

"Hey, please, stop crying, I won't betray you, and you don't have to do anything to ensure that. You just have to promise me something, okay? "B'Elanna gently lifted Seven's chin with her hand so they could both look each other in the eye.

"All you have to do is promise that you'll tell the captain yourself. OK?"

Seven looked at B'Elanna in disbelief, and before she could object or protest, B'Elanna continued.

"She'll find out soon anyway. How long do you think your hiding place will remain secret? Tuvok is already finding out where you're going and what you're doing. After all, there are a lot of rumors about it, and it is his job to keep an eye on things. Therefore, I advise you to tell the captain yourself as soon as possible. And from what I know about her, she won't take away your hiding place, she would rather try and give you decent accommodation. You're her darling, and I think we all know that she would do a lot for you. So trust her and tell her. Yes?"

"I cannot," said Seven softly.

"Why not?" B'Elanna asked uncomprehendingly.

"I have disappointed her and I have avoided her for the past few weeks. She will not be pleased. She's probably very angry with me. "Seven admitted defeatedly.

B'Elanna was thinking about the new info. She had already noticed that something was going on between Seven and the captain during the previous weeks. Seven, who had cried a short while ago in Cargo Bay 2, and the captain, who looked increasingly grumpy and drained. Now everything made sense.

"Okay, I'll make you a suggestion, I'll think about how we can tell the captain without it causing problems." B'Elanna sighed.

"Do we really have to tell her?" Seven asked cautiously.

"Yeah, look, if she finds out from anyone else, you'll probably be in trouble, and you can be sure she will really be very disappointed with you for not having enough faith in her to tell her yourself. So the best thing is to simply tell her herself. You have to do it. Seriously!"

Seven sighed deeply and looked down at her hands, still busy with her shirt.

"Fine, I'll do it," Seven conceded.

"If you like, I could go with you," B'Elanna offered frankly.

Seven looked at her in surprise and thought about it for a moment. But then she shook her head.

"No, I am solely responsible for what I did and therefore I have to tell her alone"

Seven looked B'Elanna in the eye and winked cheekily at her "I could blame the body eaters," she offered.

B'Elanna groaned deeply and rolled her eyes. "Kahless, what is it with you and body eaters?" She asked, exasperated.

"Well, they are known to take over other people's bodies and then do whatever they want with them. They are pretty angry and aggressive; that could have happened in my case too. The Captain couldn't prove the situation was not so. "Seven answered seriously.

"Kahless, Seven, has anyone ever told you that you are really sweet when you tell such crazy stuff and really assume that someone will believe it?"

"Yes, occasionally. My friend Emily often says 'sweetie' to me, "Seven admitted openly.

B'Elanna's mouth fell open and she was amazed. "Your friend Emily?"

* Since when did Seven have a girlfriend? * shot through B'Elanna's head.

"Yes, that's right. She wants to help me find out if the captain is attracted to me. She said I could blame the body eaters if it goes wrong and the captain is not interested. "

Now B'Elanna was nearing a heart attack. * What ???? * * The Captain may be attracted to Seven ??? *

"Seven? What the hell is wrong with you? I mean, you want to ask the captain if she's attracted to you?" B'Elanna asked stunned.

"Yeah, I thought that was what I said," Seven replied, confused.

"You can't do that! Even if she is attracted to you, she will deny it. She is the captain and she would never get involved with a crewmember. No way. Even if she really wants to, she is much too Starfleet. It will not happen. "B'Elanna explained agitatedly.

"You didn't say you were attracted to her, or are you?" B'Elanna asked after a short pause.

Seven had her head on her knees again and soft tears flowed down her cheek. B'Elanna was right, the captain would never confess her feelings, even if she had any for Seven, and she would never allow herself to pursue her. The captain was head to toe, heart and soul, Starfleet.

Seven shook her head sadly. "No. It was a joke. I know that she is the captain and must treat every crew member the same. I know she certainly cannot be attracted to me. I'm not interested in her either. "

B'Elanna shook her head. "Oh, my, you're a pretty bad liar. Oh Kahless, "she sighed deeply.

"Okay, so here's the plan; you go and tell the captain about your hiding place, and forget about the body eaters. She'll never believe you if you blame them, and besides, body eaters don't even exist. It is also best that you leave now. "B'Elanna challenged Seven.


	12. Revelations

After Seven had used the sonic shower and squeezed into her organic suit, she made her way to the captain's quarters.

She was not comfortable with the thought of having to face the woman and confess her previous week's activities to her, so Seven walked very slowly, B'Elanna at her side to make sure Seven actually went to captain's quarters. Seven dawdled so much that B'Elanna, already annoyed, rolled her eyes.

Finally, they both stood in front of the captain's quarters. Seven was very nervous and looked desperately at B'Elanna. B'Elanna calmly put her hand on Seven's shoulder and pressed the doorbell.

A few seconds later, "Come in" came from within.

B'Elanna took a step forward and the door opened, but Seven stopped in the corridor and made no move to enter the quarters.

Kathryn wondered why her doors opened, but no one came through them, so she got up from her reading chair and peered through the doorway.

Surprised, she saw B'Elanna and Seven standing in front of her quarters, but neither of the two women seemed to want to come in.

Worried, Kathryn looked back and forth between Seven and B'Elanna.

"Hello, don't you want to come in?" She asked.

Seven looked at the captain and said bravely, "Captain, I know it's late, maybe I should come back another time," then she wanted to turn and walk away, but B'Elanna put her hand on Seven's arm and held it lightly.

Kathryn looked amazedly between the two women and wondered what that meant.

"Well, since you're here, please, come in. There seems to be a situation here that you both obviously want to discuss with me. Am I right?"

She looked at them both questioningly, but Seven still did not look as if she wanted to come in, however much B'Elanna obviously wanted Seven to do so.

"So, are you coming in, or should I make it an order?" Kathryn asked again.

Seven looked very panicked now, she answered quickly "No, Captain, I cannot ..." And with that she broke free from B'Elanna's grip and quickly walked away.

Kathryn looked at B'Elanna worriedly and questioningly, while B'Elanna sighed deeply, "Body eaters are probably responsible," B'Elanna murmured softly to herself.

Kathryn looked questioningly at her. "What did you say, and what is the meaning?"

B'Elanna looked at the captain. "Oh, just an inside joke. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you anything, I promised Seven. But I can show you. Maybe that's better. "

Confused, Kathryn stared at B'Elanna, "What can you not tell me but would like to show me?"

"Come on, I'll show it to you" B'Elanna said, pulling gently on Kathryn's arm, leading her towards Cargo Bay 2.

*****

Meanwhile, Seven had crawled into a Jefferies tube. She needed to think. Yes, she could have gone back to her hiding place, but how safe was her hiding place now? She therefore retired in the Jefferies tube and tried to organize her confused thoughts.

She had just behaved like a complete idiot. That's what Emily would have called it. But as she faced her captain, the woman who meant so much to her, she felt she could not tell her what she had done.

Seven was scared she may receive the captain's disappointing look, a sermon, and a new punishment. No, she could not have stayed there, she just had to come here.

But how should she continue now?

*****  
B'Elanna was silent all the way to Cargo Bay 2. She was not sure what to expect there. Would Seven be in her hiding place and not open the door, but barricade herself inside?

Well, she had promised not to tell the captain, but she hadn't promised not to show the retreat to her.

B'Elanna really hoped Seven would understand what she was about to do. It was suddenly important to her that Seven was not angry with her. Why it was important, she didn't know, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

All she knew was that she had to show the captain what was going on. She only hoped that the captain would react with kindness, as she believed she would, and realise that Seven needed a real place to stay, not another punishment.

After all, B'Elanna now knew how much Seven had been punished. She felt that she had just met this young woman for the first time today, and she truly wished that her life here on Voyager would become easier and that she could be happy.

B'Elanna prayed earnestly to Kahless that her plan would work out.

When they entered Cargo Bay 2, B'Elanna was visibly nervous. Kathryn looked at her worriedly, secretly wondering what was going on.

"All right, what do you want to show me here B'Elanna?" Kathryn asked a little more impatiently as B'Elanna began to hesitate.

"I ..." she stuttered, embarrassed. "Promise me you won't be mad at Seven, okay? Look at what I'm about to show you and remember that Seven did not want to harm anyone" said B'Elanna.

Kathryn looked at her closely, then nodded her head.

Then B'Elanna went to the back wall, near the alcove. She put her hand on a hidden button and activated the door opening. Kathryn was amazed when a door opened and a small room appeared.

B'Elanna gestured for her to enter. Then B'Elanna called Seven, but realized that she was not here.

Meanwhile, Kathryn looked around in astonishment at the small room. "What is this?"

B'Elanna sighed deeply and replied, "This is Seven's. It is her new home. I just found out about it an hour ago. I have asked Seven to tell you, but for various reasons, which I don't want to mention now, she was very afraid of doing so."

Kathryn looked at B'Elanna in disbelief "Seven's home?" she asked, confused.  
B'Elanna nodded her head, "Yes"

All Kathryn could think to ask was, "Why?"

So, B'Elanna explained everything to her, just as Seven had told her an hour ago. Kathryn was dismayed to hear how upset Seven had been for the last few weeks, just because she had ordered that she only work in the Alpha shift. She had no idea how difficult it was for her to manage her newly gained free time, and no idea how lonely Seven had been feeling.

As soon as B'Elanna had told the whole story, Kathryn felt more than bad. She sat desperately in one of the cushions and covered her face with her hands.

"I knew something was going on after she arrived late to the conference room, and looked so unkempt. In my ready room I later asked her what was going on, but she was silent, saying nothing. Oh God, B'Elanna, I should have continued to dig. I shouldn't have given up so quickly. "Kathryn admitted desperately.

B'Elanna looked startled at how desperate her captain was, and she suddenly thought that Seven may not be the only one who has feelings, but that the captain's feelings for Seven might be the same.

"Captain, may I speak openly?" B'Elanna asked.

Kathryn looked at her and nodded her head.

"Captain, we both know that if Seven does not want to talk, then you cannot get her to, so please don't despair because of that. I think you two should be honest with one another. Not just about the things that have happened in the last few weeks, but also about your relationship with each other.

I think, I mean, I know from a safe source that all crew members of Voyager know about your relationship, how important you are to each other. Okay, there's a faction that thinks you're more than just a mentor and teacher to Seven. Maybe you took over as a mother figure for her as well, and others think that your relationship with Seven is closer to a romantic relationship. Tom has several betting pools.

And frankly, I've been hostile towards Seven ever since she joined us. For one thing, it was because she was and always will be Borg. But also because you have this special relationship with each other and it was making me jealous. But now that I see you each making your own lives difficult, I think I should offer my help.

Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but think about it. Everyone who works and lives here on Voyager wants to have a happy captain. And believe it or not, if your luck is to be with Seven, then you have my full support, and the rest of the crew will certainly not think or act differently. "

Kathryn looked at B'Elanna in confusion, astonishment and surprise. "Is it so obvious?" She asked anxiously.

"Oh no. I didn't realise until just now. But now that I see the whole thing, I've added two and two together and just guessed how you felt about Seven. Also, Seven and I had a similar conversation earlier, and she admitted she was attracted to you. Okay, so she quickly revoked it and said it was a joke, but seriously, Seven is a bad liar. "

Kathryn blinked in dumbfoundment at B'Elanna. She could not quite believe what she had just heard. So far, she thought that her feelings for Seven were only one-sided. She had never dared or hoped that Seven felt the same for her.

B'Elanna put her hand on the captain's shoulder and gently rubbed her. "You should talk to Seven and finally clarify what feelings there are between you both."

Kathryn was speechless, so she nodded her head.

"Okay, then I'll leave you alone" and with that, B'Elanna turned around and left Seven's hiding place.

*****  
After a while, when Seven returned to Cargo Bay 2, she had come up with a plan to tell the captain about her retreat.

Inside her little kingdom, she first took off her now hated bio-suit, and then put on her shirt and boxer shorts, which she had left behind earlier in the sonic shower. Exhausted from the events of the day, she went tiredly up to her sleeping area.

But when she saw who was sleeping in her bed, she became frightened inside.

In front of her, the captain lay curled up in her bed, holding Seven's shaggy teddy in her arms. Seven thought the captain looked beautiful. Her command mask had been replaced by a relaxed expression and her hair had fallen a bit messily over her face.

Quietly, Seven climbed the last steps of the ladder and step towards the woman of her dreams who lay quietly replenishing her energy. Gently, she brushed the hair out of the captain's face and studied her closely.

Then she quietly lay besides her and cuddled up to her. Her head buried in the Captain's hair, she sniffed it. She liked the scent, she had noticed it before and always found it very appealing. She gently put her arm around the captain's waist. After just a few moments, she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and comments are very welcome. Please let me know what you think about my story.


	13. Sleepover Guest

When Kathryn awoke, she did not know where she was at first, but she knew immediately that it was not her bed, nor her quarters. Moments later, she recalled the events of the past evening.

She had stayed in Seven's hiding place, waiting for Seven after B'Elanna had left. She had looked around and considered what Seven had made out of this tiny spot.

Up in the sleeping area she had smiled when she had seen the shaggy Teddy. Then she lay down with the need to close her eyes for a moment and inhaling Seven's scent, which hung in her pillow, Kathryn lost herself in it.

* She must have fallen asleep *, she sighed in thought.

Now aware where she lay, she realized that she was no longer alone. During the night she must have turned, and was now snuggled up next to Seven, who lay on her back next to her. Startled, she realized that her right hand was under Seven's shirt and lightly touched and stroked her left breast.

Immediately, she pulled her hand back from Seven's soft, shapely chest. Seven opened her eyes and looked around in confusion. She looked at Kathryn with sleepy eyes and pulled a small pout.

"Please continue that action, it was very pleasant for me," Seven begged eagerly. 

Kathryn sat up in horror and stared with disbelief at the young woman. "Seven, I'm sorry, I ...."

But Seven put a finger on Kathryn's mouth and hinted that she should stop talking.

"Shhh, I'm fine. The feeling of your hand on my chest was pleasant, you do not have to apologize. "

Then she pulled Kathryn into her arms and hugged her gently. "Good morning," Seven murmured softly into her ear, breathing a peck onto her cheek and then releasing her.

The hug and kiss happened so fast that Kathryn could not respond. She was confused, and surprised. Completely speechless, she stared at Seven and placed her hand on the spot where Seven had kissed her. A slight blush covered her cheek.

Seven smiled gently at her, wondering what to do next.

After several silent moments spent looking at each other, Seven decided that the captain needed a moment to refocus. She got up quickly and climbed down the ladder.

Exiting her hiding place, she approached the replicator and ordered coffee for the captain and a cocoa for herself. She returned with the drinks and handed over the coffee to the captain, who had now climbed down the ladder as well.

Seven sat on one of the cushions with her cocoa and sipped her drink carefully. She waited for the captain to make the next move.

The captain then sat down next to Seven on another cushion, also sipping her coffee carefully.

Both occasionally glanced at each other over their cups. Neither of them really knew what to do next.

Kathryn then bravely leaned over to Seven, took her cup out of her hand, and put it down on the floor. She gently stroked Seven's cocoa-smeared mouth with her thumbs before tenderly placing her own lips on Seven's. Seven eagerly pulled Kathryn onto her lap and slipped her hands onto her back as they both deepened the kiss.

Both lost all sense of time as their tongues met, tenderly exploring and connecting with each other. Meanwhile, each woman's hands wandered curiously over the other's body.

Too fast, they ended their kiss in order to breathe. Both took a deep breath and looked at each other in astonishment. Neither of them expected this course of events.

"Beautiful" Seven breathed, after she had pulled enough air back into her lungs.

"Yes, very much," Kathryn replied, pulling Seven back into her arms for another kiss. Seven was overwhelmed by the wonderful feeling that spread from Kathryn's kiss and into and throughout her body.

They kissed for a little while, until suddenly a strange grumbling noise overshadowed the kissing sounds.

Seven pulled away from Kathryn's lips and looked at her worriedly, "What was that?" She asked anxiously.

"Oh that, that was my stomach. He tries to tell me that he wants to be fed"Kathryn smirked at Seven.

"Does it hurt?" Seven asked worriedly.

"No darling, it's normal. Come on, let's get something to eat. "And with that she got up from Seven's lap and pulled Seven to her feet.

She then looked at Seven "Darling, as charming as you look, I don't think that we should walk to my quarters, so I believe a site to site transport would be appropriate. "

After re-materialising in Kathryn's quarters, Kathryn pulled Seven once again into a heartfelt embrace, and kissed her affectionately.

"So, my darling, let's change and eat. And then, we have a lot to talk about. "She smiled tenderly at Seven.

Seven nodded her head and looked at Kathryn happily.


	14. New Home

When Kathryn returned to her living room dressed in a fresh uniform, she saw Seven standing at the window. She was still dressed in her sleeping clothes, the bio suit laying ignored on the couch.

Seven was so absorbed in her thoughts that she did not notice Kathryn approaching her. She was shocked when Kathryn put her hand on her shoulder.

"Darling, what's up? You're not dressed yet. "Kathryn asked softly.

Seven turned to her and lowered her head.

"Nothing, everything is fine," she answered softly.

"Really?" Kathryn looked at her worriedly, but decided to let it go for the time being. "Fine, let's have breakfast. Our shift starts soon, we have to hurry. What would you like to eat?"

Seven stood helplessly in front of Kathryn "I do not know. I usually take a nutritional supplement which the doctor has recommended for me." She explained. 

"Oh, well, do you want to replicate one?"

"No, I would like to eat something different."

Kathryn smiled happily when she heard that. "Well, how about fruits, muesli and quark?"

"That would be nice," Seven replied and Kathryn looked at her in surprise. She had expected Seven to say *Acceptable*.

"Then we'll have that!"

But before the two could start their breakfast, Kathryn was called to the bridge by Commander Chakotay for an anomaly.

"Darling I'm sorry, I have to go. Please finish breakfast. How about we meet tonight at 7pm for dinner and then talk about everything? Yes?"

Seven nodded her head. Kathryn gave her a quick, gentle kiss on the cheek and swiftly left the quarters.

Seven took the cereal bowls and put them in the replicator to recycle. She was not hungry anymore. She then took off her sleeping clothes and reluctantly put on her bio suit. It became more and more uncomfortable to wear with each day.

**********

After her shift, Seven went to Cargo Bay 2. She had a few hours left before dinner with Kathryn, so she wanted to read for a bit, watch TV or just relax in her hiding place.

But halfway towards her retreat, she suddenly stopped, rooted to the ground, and stared at the empty space in front of her. The row of shelves had been returned to its proper place, and thus her home, her haven, her hiding place, had been eliminated.

When Seven realized what had happened, thick tears came into her eyes and ran down her cheeks. The captain had taken from her the only thing she had possessed. How could she be so cruel? B'Elanna was wrong, B'Elanna had betrayed her and now her home was gone.

Seven left Cargo Bay 2 in despair, rage, and anger, and walked quickly to the engine room. She looked around for B'Elanna. When she saw her, she headed straight for her.

B'Elanna turned around in time to see an angry Seven, she therefore assumed a defensive body position, but the expected struggle dissolved, instead, Seven lunged into a desperate embrace and cried on her shoulder.

B'Elanna took several moments before digesting the whole situation.

"Shhh… shhh, what's happened?" She asked softly, wrapping her arms around Seven's body, which shook from distress.

Seven sniffled and cried for a little while before she got control of herself. She then wiped the tears from her cheek with her hand and looked tearfully at B'Elanna.

"She has ..." sniffled Seven, "She has eliminated my home." Already tears were returning to Seven's eyes and her lips began to tremble desperately again.

B'Elanna tried to figure it out, but it took a moment to click. Then she smiled widely Seven.

"Oh, Seven, no, she hasn't done that. The captain had a very good idea today and I think since she hasn't told you about it, maybe it's supposed to be a surprise. Wait a minute, will you? Everything will be fine, I promise. "

B'Elanna tapped her communicator and called the captain. "Captain, this is B'Elanna, there is someone here who is very upset. It would be best if you came to engineering. "

"I'm on my way."

B'Elanna pulled Seven into her office.

A short time later, Kathryn arrived in the engine room. Lt. Carrey pointed to B'Elanna's office, the captain nodded her thanks and walked quickly over to the office.

She stopped at the door and was amazed when she saw that B'Elanna was holding Seven in a hug and muttering softly to her.

When B'Elanna saw the captain, she released Seven. "Captain, I think you should tell Seven about your idea, or your surprise."

Seven looked at the captain in confusion. It almost broke Kathryn's heart to see her like that. She quickly went to Seven and wanted to pull her into her arms but Seven backed away from her and said, "No, you eliminated my home."

"Oh darling, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I can explain everything to you. Please listen to me. Yes? "Kathryn asked.

Seven looked over at B'Elanna and when she nodded to her, Seven agreed to listen to the captain.

Kathryn asked Seven to follow her and she led her to Deck 3. She stopped in front of one of the VIP quarters there and Seven looked at her in surprise. She thought the captain would take her to her own quarters to explain everything.

Kathryn entered the door code and the door opened. She went into the quarters, but Seven stopped in front of the doorway. Surprised, Kathryn looked around, "Please Seven, follow me" she asked gently.

Seven wondered if she should refuse the request, then decided to follow her.

"Why are we here?" She asked curiously.

"Well, because this is your new home." Kathryn explained.

"What?" Seven asked, astonished.

"Yes, you heard right. From now on, these are your quarters. There was a meeting of senior officers and everyone agreed that we would give you the VIP quarters to have as your own. I have asked the maintenance team to bring all your belongings here and then return Cargo Bay 2 to its original state. B'Elanna is in the process of putting together a team to bring your alcove here and install it."

Seven looked at Kathryn in disbelief and single tears ran down her cheek.

Kathryn looked at her worriedly, "Darling, what's wrong?"

Seven shook her head and wiped the tears with her hand. "Nothing, I'm happy. I do not know why tears are still coming out of my eyes. "

A huge smile spread across Kathryn's face. She then pulled Seven into her arms and kissed her gently.

"Those are tears of joy", she laughed happily. "Come on, I'll show you your new quarters. You can set it up as you like, and do you know what's best? "Kathryn asked with a cheeky grin on her face.

"No, what's best?"

"Well, it's right next to my quarters." Kathryn grinned from ear to ear.

Seven smiled happily at Kathryn. Kathryn thought she had never seen anything better. She pulled Seven back in her arms and gave her a passionate kiss.

"You look wonderful with that smile, I hope I will see it more often now."

Seven gave her a cheerful nod, "It depends" Seven winked mischievously at her.  
"On what?" Kathryn asked curiously.

"May I finally change my clothes. My bio suit is very uncomfortable. It pinches here and occasionally here. "Seven pointed at the various places on her body.

Kathryn looked at her in dismay. "Darling, how long has it been tweaking you?"

Seven tilted her head and thought quietly. After a while, she looked at Kathryn again and said, "Well, always. But only in the last few weeks has it started to bother me and make me uncomfortable. "

"Why didn't you tell me that? Does the doctor know about it? "

"I asked the doctor a few weeks ago if it was really necessary to wear the bio-suits and he said that it was not necessary anymore, although he strongly recommended them to me still. Actually, I had hoped that he would confirm to me that I no longer have to wear them, as I have learned that normal clothes do not pinch and are not uncomfortable. I feel very comfortable in normal clothes. "Seven replied defeated.

"But I never told him that they were tweaking me and were uncomfortable. He would have taken this as a reason to give me a lecture on how important they are to support my physiology. "Seven explained.

"But maybe he could have designed the bio suit differently, so that the tweaking stopped and maybe they would not have been so uncomfortable," Kathryn pointed out.

Seven, however, shook her head "No, the bio suits must be skin-tight and lie directly against my skin, otherwise they cannot support my physiology. So I think there's no way to make it different and take away the pinch "

Kathryn saw how miserable Seven looked at this explanation. She made a point of talking to the doctor about the need for bio suits.

"Okay, how about I go to the bridge now, finish my shift and then prepare dinner while you get settled in here and put on some more comfortable clothes?"

"That would be a very good idea. May I get another kiss? "Seven asked timidly.

"Nothing would be dearer to me" Kathryn tenderly stroked Seven's lips with her lips and breathed a gentle kiss on them. She then turned and waved her goodbye to Seven.

******  
Seven dressed in the pants skirt with matching white blouse for dinner. Her hair was tied in a loose braid and several strands freely framed her face.

Kathryn could not help but admire Seven the whole evening.

During the dinner, they discussed how the two of them would continue. They agreed that they both wanted to take it slow, step by step.

Then it occurred to Kathryn that B'Elanna had mentioned that Seven had a friend named Emily.

"Darling, B'Elanna told me that you made a friend on the holodeck. Would you like to tell me about her? How did you meet?"

Seven looked very pleased and happily explained, "I found a data chip on the holodeck and since I could not decide on a program, I thought I could try the one it contained. When I started it, a city materialized and the next moment, Emily walked into me. She then took me to a cafe because she said I had to taste the world's best apple strudel .... "

Kathryn looked at Seven in amazement, then got up and walked quickly to her desk, rummaging around in her drawer for several minutes. Then she came back to the table and said, "I think that was my data chip which you found. I did not realize that I had lost it last time. I use the program quite rarely, only when I'm after the world's best apple strudel. I don't use the program for anything else because it has a few quirks. "Kathryn smiled at Seven.

"What do you mean that it has quirks?" Seven asked curiously.

"Well, it starts and then runs and runs. No matter where you stop it or where the scene stops, the next time you use it, it never starts where you left off. It's just crazy. "

"I made that observation as well, but an analysis of the program did not reveal any indication that something was wrong with it. Where did you get it from? "

"I got it from a friend who attended Starfleet Academy with me. She programmed it, it was her first attempt at a holo program. When we realized that the apple strudel was really the best I had ever tasted, she gave me the data chip. Except for the apple strudel and the small bookstore, where I am always well advised on every visit, I do not use the program. "

"You were in the bookstore?" Seven asked excitedly.

"Yes, it's a small but well-established bookstore. I've always been given good recommendations there. The young woman working in it is very nice. Do you know her? "

"Yes, that's Emily, my friend. And yes, you are right, she is very nice. I'm glad that you already know her. Will you allow me to continue using the data chip if I want to visit Emily?"

"Oh darling, sure I'll allow you that and you know what, I'll give you the data chip so you can visit Emily anytime. And maybe you'll take me with you, so that I can get to know you better and also enjoy the apple strudel again? "

Overjoyed, Seven pulled Kathryn onto her lap and hugged her. "Thank you Kathryn, I'd like to take you as often as you like." Then she kissed her gently on the lips.

Kathryn returned the kiss and it quickly turned into a passionate, deep kiss, with tongue and groans in all the right places.

 

Epilogue

A deep friendship quickly developed between Seven and B'Elanna. During work, they became a well-rehearsed team and in their free time, they put the patience of the captain, as well as the other crew members to the test more than once, with their various pranks and recreational ideas. 

But Kathryn was very happy to see that Seven was finally happy and also took pleasure in "having fun".

Emily and Seven remained the best of friends and there were many more visits and evenings in front of the television watching the adventures of Buffy and her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you liked the story.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, write me what you think about the story.


End file.
